There's Been a Recent Surge of Extremely Positive Reports About How Good Drake Maye Looks in Practice

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

It's hard to get real news out of NFL practices once training camp ends. From that point on, the media is allowed to view only the team stretch portion of workouts. Making practical information as difficult to get as it would be from North Korea, a war zone, or your wife when she's upset at you for some reason. There's a better chance you'll get all the names on Diddy's guest list than you'll know who's doing what on any team's practice field. 

Which makes it curious any time you hear the same reports, coming from different media people. Much like a political campaign, teams like to control the narrative. So they'll give information to reporters they trust in order to sway public opinion. Which doesn't make the narrative untrue. This is just to say that nothing is said for no reason. 

And without a doubt, the Patriots have been doing that over the last day or so with multiple reports about how impressive Drake Maye has been. Beginning with Brian Hoyer breaking down this play where he threw Demario Douglas open on a deep crossing route against disguised coverage:

And continuing from there:

Source - The Patriots [defensive] coaches called a play that excited them. This coverage look was new – one the Patriots scout-team offense hadn’t seen.

The look on the coaches faces changed when Drake Maye dropped back and threw a perfectly placed deep ball in between tight coverage. After rewatching the recorded practice, Mike Pellegrino went up to the rookie quarterback the next day.

“He’s progressing and makes some great throws in practice against us. I remember one specifically that I went in the next day and was like, ‘I hate you. That was a great throw,’” Pellegrino said. “He’s doing a good job so far. He stuck one in between tight coverage on a new call that we had a couple of weeks ago. It was like, ‘I really wish he didn’t make that throw, but you did.’”

Phil Perry, at the 2:20 mark:

"Drake Maye damn near won the job in training camp. He's getting reps with the first team. And from what I've been told, he looks pretty good. … I've been talking to people over the last several weeks. He looks good in practice. He's smooth. He's going through his reads, even when he's the scout team guy. One guy told me he's not out there BSing around, which I guess happens in other NFL cities [while running the scout team]. He's on through, playing on time, in rhythm." 

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Albert Breer:

"He's the real deal. … There's definitely physical ability that's going to get the attention of guys in practice. I will say that the job they've done with him, in sequencing him and getting him ready to play has been pretty smart. … The expectation is that he's going to play this year. And I don't mean like last week. I mean actually start games."

I repeat, these things don't come out for no reason. And it's pretty obvious these particular things are coming out all within the last couple of days is that last part. 

The Drake Maye Era is about to begin. 

This Sunday is on the road against 2023's No. 3 defense. It's likely that Sidy Sow will return, giving the offensive line 80% of its starters. But Layden Robinson is still a rookie. And we're expecting that Demontrey Jacobs will be at left tackle. Despite the fact he was a UDFA in 2023 and saw the only 14 snaps of his career during last week's debacle. So it's great for the long term health of the franchise that Maye spend all of Sunday in a ball cap. 

But there is just too much noise coming out of Foxboro right now to thing they're not prepping Maye and us for his first start. Too much sound and fury for it to signify nothing. I'll stick to my guns and say that first start happens in Week 5 at home against Miami. But if not then, it's coming soon. And if there is any justice left in this wicked world, for the next 20 years.